'Weeds' Actor: Media Distorts Facts to Sow Division, Gain Ratings

Actor Romany Malco of Weeds and The 40-Year-Old Virgin fame took to The Huffington Post to comment on the death of Florida teen Travyon Martin.

What Malco wrote hardly reflected the majority opinion in Hollywood. In fact, Malco’s piece is both more thoughtful and considerate than nearly everything penned by his industry peers since George Zimmerman was acquitted in the death of Martin July 13.

Malco’s lengthy piece explores black images in the entertainment world, our culture’s willingness to ignore the many black teens who died before and after Martin’s fatal encounter with George Zimmerman and, most importantly, the mainstream media’s role in whipping up a racial frenzy all in the name of ratings.

He even spares a sentence to castigate a culture which refuses to hold President Barack Obama to his promises.

Hundreds of blacks die annually in South Side Chicago without even a blurb. Trayvon isn’t in the mainstream news for any reason other than ratings and profit….

Our “government” continues to wreak havoc on our civil liberties and there is little to no protest from the black community because of media diversion tactics that keep such pertinent issues out of mainstream media….

My point being, people are up in arms about Trayvon based on regurgitated pundits and manipulated facts aired to elicit emotion while fueling America’s anger and division. That’s how you boost ratings. No different from Piers Morgan’s desperate rant over gun control when he knew his ratings were in the dumps….

Trayvon was doomed the moment ignorance became synonymous with young black America. We lost that case by using media outlets (music, movies, social media, etc.) as vehicles to perpetuate the same negative images and social issues that destroyed the black community in the first place. When we went on record glorifying violent crime and when we voted for a president we never thought to hold accountable….

If we really wanted to ensure Trayvon Martin’s killing was not in vain, we’d stop perpetuating negative images that are now synonymous with black men in America. We’d stop rapping about selling drugs and killing niggas.